AboutWayne King Expertise Any question about orchid culture. I have thirty+ yrs of growing experience,president 2x of our local Orchid Growers Guild,held a position in most all other offices associated with the Guild at one time or another. Head of Orchid judging team for local club meetings and some shows. Member of two Orchid Socities and local Rep.for Mid America Orchid Congress for several yrs.I have in my collection about 800 Orchid plants of all types.
Experience
Past/Present clients Previously an expert on expertcentral.com.
Question hi I have the same problem as lyndia, I have cleaned off the bugs as they have got onto all off my orchids. I have 7 along my window, I have noticed that 1 is really bad & its right down into the stem shall I bin this 1 as I dont want them all go get really bad, as they have traveled up onto the flowers, Hope you can help. Regards Pennie
Answer Pennie, part of the challenge relates to the mealg bugs spreading to other house plants in the area of the orchids. Try to keep the affected plants separate from those that don't have the mealy bug. For the infestations that you have I recommend unpotting each plant, and place the plant in a "drench" of insecticide effective against mealy. Your garden center should be able to recommend the proper insecticide. Fill a bucket large enough so you can insert the entire unpotted plant into the bucket for 1/2 hour. You may use the same drench for multiple plants. Be sure to use chemical gloves. After removing each plant from the drench, place it on a piece of paper to dry before repotting. This should all be done outside. You can soak the pots separately if you want to reuse them or use new pots. Discard the old potting mix into a bag that can be securely tied and placed into garbage. The insecticide should be a systemic insecticide that penetrates the plant tissues. When the plant is dry, wipe all remaining insects that you can see from the plant (or you could do this before using the drench). Repot in a fresh potting mix. Clean any area where you plant to grow the plants, before placing the plant there for future growth. When you unpot, rinse the roots and remove any that are mushy as they are dead. The systemic insecticide should be effective for up to 6 weeks after treatment. After that, careful monitoring will be required to ensure that any future infestation doesn't get out of hand. Now that you know what to look for, if you have any reoccurrence, you should be able to use a cotton swab to remove the insects before they multiply.
